Dog help...

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May2016Boy wrote:

I posted months ago about our little man being allergic to our three dogs (not the pet dander but the saliva) ... well this has passed (like the pediatrician thought it would with continued breastfeeding).

Now... I'm noticing our husky is showing what I think is dominant behavior towards the baby. Standing over him from behind when little man is in the walker, growling when little man bumps him with the walker, our husky has been "marking me" more often by rubbing all over me when he has the chance, if I'm holding the baby, the husky sniffs at his diaper and pushes him with his nose... I never allow them alone, and I usually just send the dogs into the other room, but it makes me nervous/worried.

Our dogs are 7 and 8 years old and have never really been socialized with children. The husky has bitten children years ago (didn't break the skin), when my sister was visiting with my nephews and they were running back and forth in our house playing.

We keep baby gates up and have been keeping our dogs separated from the baby since his allergic reaction when he was 4 weeks old... but now that this passed, we had been allowing the dogs back into family time. Now though, we basically have to keep them separated again. Which means our dogs are ignored. Which is not fair to the dogs.

I feel like I know I need to rehome my husky, but I don't really want to believe it. And then what happens if I tell a rescue he is not good with kids? Won't they put him down? Is it more humane to keep ignoring them and keep the dogs separated from the baby then a rescue that might put him down? Advice please.

And if you're going to be nasty about how pets are family and I'm a horrible person, save it. I love my dogs... but I know a family who lost a child to a family dog who was showing dominant behavior, so I'm not interested in taking that chance.

I would talk to a puppy behaviourist first, see what they say but then I'd rehome the dog. Your baby comes first. My dog too, he's excellent with kids but he's peeing in the house a lot more often and on baby's activity centre . We are going to talk to a behaviourist

This happened with our cat. He continuously marked all over (although fixed), tried getting in between me and the baby when nursing, and even hissed a couple times at her when on the floor (never did before). Vet said he's perfectly healthy, wants more attention than the baby. We ended up re-homing him to a co-worker who has older kids and can play with him more. No doubt they're family, but our children come first.

Most rescues won't euthanize a dog just because they aren't good with kids. A shelter would be a different story but rescues want to find the right home for every pet. I used to foster for a husky rescue and huskies are often not good with children. They can over stimulate them, getting the husky over excited and huskies don't like getting put in second place after the adults. Like pp said, if you want the dog seek professional help to see what you can do to retrain the bad behavior and help you handle the situation (sometimes the way we hold baby, etc... can trigger the dog).

Nope. Dog would be gone. The fact that he bit your nephew is all the proof you need that it's going to happen again. Acting dominant over the baby is very unsafe. You're asking for trouble. Also, when rehoming the dog you have the responsibility to inform them of this behavior.

Your dog is pretty old but huskys are a popular/ well loved breed. I would definitely try putting your dog in classifieds before putting them through a rescue or shelter and asking friends/ coworkers to ask around and help you look for a home that way your dog goes straight from your home to its new home versus going back and forth between a kennel and foster homes or living the rest of his life going back and forth in these living situations because he's too old and/or the adoption fee is too high for someone to want him.

I fostered and it was sad how many new and scary places dog's and cats end up before they find a new home.

Two of the four rescues I reached out to won't take him because he's already shown aggression towards children. The other two have not responded yet. The rescue our vet said to reach out to was one of the ones who won't take him. I'm starting to give up hope of rehoming. Which means we will likely have to put him down ourselves because I'm not going to lie just to get a rescue to take him... I don't know what else to do.

I have a husky as well so I know they always act like two year olds I only meant there are less people looking for that old of a dog with a record of biting kids and would pay the $150+ fee that rescues usually charge.

My husband thinks I'm overreacting... he thinks it's somehow different that the husky has bitten kids before because they weren't OUR kids, and because our son is ours and always here, it makes it different? He doesn't think the husky (or our other dogs) will do anything... I'm completely torn...